Cuddebackville Dam
Encyclopedia
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
on the Neversink River
Neversink River
The Neversink River is a tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern New York in the United States...
in Orange County, New York
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
near the town of Cuddebackville, removed in October, 2004 to benefit aquatic life. It was the first dam removed in New York State for environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
reasons.
History
The Cuddebackville Dam is actually two different dams that are separated by a small island. The original structure was built in the 1820s to divert water from the Neversink River into the Delaware RiverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
and the Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
Canal. The second structure was built in 1915. The Cuddebackville Dam was six feet high and 125 feet (38.1 m) across. The dam was built to divert water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
to turbines to generate electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. The water was diverted into a feeder canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
connected to a small hydropower
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...
plant. The plant was abandoned in 1945 because modern power lines were built to draw electricity from farther away. The dam fell into ownership of the Orange County. The dam was removed in October, 2004 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Nature Conservancy to benefit the aquatic life in the area.
Effect on Aquatic Life
The Neversink River is the home to a rich diversity of aquatic life, some of which are on the list of federally endangered species. The river is also known for its pristine water conditions. In addition to being a home to endangered species the river is an internationally famous site for fly-fishing. However, all of these qualities were being threatened by the Cuddebackville Dam. In particular, two species were under threat, the Dwarf Wedge Mussel and the American ShadAmerican shad
-Introduction:The American shad or Atlantic shad, Alosa sapidissima, is a species of anadromous fish in family Clupeidae of order Clupeiformes. It is not closely related to the other North American shads...
.
The Dwarf Wedge Mussel
The Neversink River contains a large population of sea mussels and the richest diversity of freshwater mussels in the upper Delaware River Basin. However, one of the seven species of musselMussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s found in the Neversink River, the Dwarf Wedge Mussel, is on the federal list of endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. This situation was not being aided by the mussels being collected by the abandoned Cuddebackville Dam. The collection of mussel species near the dam was resulting in the Neversink River’s mussel population being primarily concentrated in one area, instead being well distributed throughout the river. Before the removal of the dam, not one Dwarf Wedge Mussel could be found beyond the dam. This was making the mussels highly susceptible to extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. A catastrophic flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
, oil spill
Oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
, chemical spill, or epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
could have resulted in local extinction
Local extinction
Local extinction, also known as extirpation, is the condition of a species which ceases to exist in the chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere...
of the mussel populations in the Neversink River. The threat that the dam posed on the mussel life, particularly the Dwarf Wedge Mussel was one of the primary reasons for its removal.
The American Shad
The Cuddebackville Dam also caused problems for the fishFish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the Neversink River. The dam restricted the upstream movement of the American Shad and the Trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
in the river. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...
had reported cases of schools
School of Fish
School of Fish was an alternative rock band which formed in 1989 and disbanded in 1994. The core members were Josh Clayton-Felt and Michael Ward who would play club dates in Los Angeles, California as a duo accompanied by programmed drums and bass. The band signed with Capitol Records in 1990, and...
of 100 to 1000 fish attempting to migrate
Fish migration
Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousands of kilometres...
up the Neversink River, only to be blocked by the dam.
Removal
In order to protect the endangered aquatic life in the Neversink River the dam was removed in October, 2004. The project was a combined effort of the Nature Conservancy and the Army Corps of Engineers. Dams had previously been removed for environmental reasons in other states. However, the Cuddebackville Dam was the first dam in the state of New York to be removed solely for environmental reasons. The cost of the removal process was about $2.2 million. The Nature Conservancy covered 35% of this expense, the Army Corps of Engineers covered the rest.The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is known primarily for buying land that might be threatened by development due to its environmental sensitivity. The removal of the Cuddebackville Dam marked a turning point in the organization, in which they broadened their scope to protecting an endangered species by protecting an entire ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
. The Nature Conservancy’s interest in the situation began in 1993, three years after the Dwarf Wedge Mussel was discovered and placed on the federal endangered species list. In 1993, the Nature Conservancy purchased 170 upland acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s of land on the Neversink River and created the Neversink Preserve
Neversink Preserve
The Neversink Preserve is located in Godeffroy in Orange County, New York. was created in 1993 by the Nature Conservancy. They purchased upland of land on the Neversink River and created the Neversink Preserve in order to protect the newly discovered and federally endangered species of mussel, the...
in order to protect the newly discovered species of mussel. Over time they have purchased more land so that the Neversink Preserve covers 630 acres (2.5 km²). However, the Nature Conservancy found that the purchasing and protecting of the land was not enough to protect the Dwarf Wedge Mussel due to the complexity of their life cycle
Biological life cycle
A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
and the interference of the Cuddebackville Dam.
The Army Corps of Engineers
The removal of the Cuddebackville Dam marked a change in purpose of the Army Corps of Engineers. The organization for over a centuryCentury
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
has been building dams and has focused on development. However, the removal of the Cuddebackville Dam marks a new trend of the Army Corps of Engineers removing dams and having an awareness of the environmental impact of the structures that they build. This also shows a changing mindset in the upcoming generation of engineers who in general may be more opposed to dam construction than their predecessors. The project also marks the first time that the Army Corps of Engineers has worked with a nonprofit organization like the Nature Conservancy since a federal law
Federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
was passed in 1999 allowing such a partnership.
See also
- List of reservoirs and dams in New York
- IUCN Red ListIUCN Red ListThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
- Neversink PreserveNeversink PreserveThe Neversink Preserve is located in Godeffroy in Orange County, New York. was created in 1993 by the Nature Conservancy. They purchased upland of land on the Neversink River and created the Neversink Preserve in order to protect the newly discovered and federally endangered species of mussel, the...
- International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Conservation
- Dam RemovalDam removalDam removal is the process of removing out-dated, dangerous, or ecologically damaging dams from river systems. There are thousands of out-dated dams in the United States that were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as many more recent ones that have caused such great ecological damage,...
- Elwha Ecosystem RestorationElwha Ecosystem RestorationThe Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project in the United States is the largest dam removal project in history and the second largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the National Park Service, after the Restoration of the Everglades...
External links
- Slide Show of Dam Removal - http://www.nature.org/popups/photo/cuddeback_1.html